Executive Summary

Many of Morocco's natural resource policies and structures are intertwined in ways that prevent dealing with single issues without examining the overall context within which they reside. Problems that appear largely related to inadequate financing of the MCEF and forestry activities can not simply be corrected by increasing funding levels. Issues of resource user rights, fragmented government responsibilities for forest land resources, and the absence of a representative "freely competitive market" for forest raw materials must be examined in concert to achieve workable solutions.

As forest degradation and, therefore, management costs continue to rise, efficiencies in forest management and greater cost recovery (user fees, etc.) are becoming increasingly unreachable targets. Current resource use patterns in Morocco's forests are undeniably unsustainable – and therefore by definition, its management must be subsidised by funds obtained from outside of the forest sector. This is not, of itself, a negative circumstance and can arise because of the many conservation and environmental services forests provide. In Morocco's case, however, the level of unsustainability of current resource use patterns verges on the irreversible in many instances and should be of grave concern.

Ownership of forest land was formally vested in the State in the 10 October 1917 dahir on the conservation and use of forests. However, through the provisions of the dahir of 1976, the historical Moroccan tradition of communal access to forest land resources ensures local population "user rights" almost equal to those of ownership - except in title. The impact of this is very significant as about 1300 the country's almost 1800 communes lie in rural areas. This was less of a concern when the carrying capacity of the resource far exceeded the needs of local populations - a situation that is manifestly not the case today. Effectively, the state has decreed the country's forests a free "open access resource" for rural populations - and there are few signals to these populations to the contrary.

Some of the responsibilities currently assigned to the MCEF cover environmental, agricultural, and community development issues as they relate to forest management. This multi-disciplined structure facilitates developing integrated approaches to what are multi-dimensioned and complex resource management issues. On the other hand, a number of Moroccan ministries, other than the MCEF, have individual responsibilities for forestry related issues (e.g. grazing, rural collectives, hydrology, environment).

There are potential benefits to reduce the current fragmentation of natural resource management responsibilities by consolidating them under fewer portfolios. Consolidation also provides an opportunity to maximise planning, management, implementation, monitoring efficiencies and reduce costs in a number of areas.